Ireland’s Denis Lynch took second place for the second time in a row at the Swiss round of the Longines World Cup in Zurich last Sunday. For good measure, he and All Star also came second in Friday’s Grand Prix.

All of this means that the Tipperary man not only came close to clinching a qualifying spot for the next month’s World Cup final in Gothenburg, but also gained one more precious batch of Olympic points on the world rankings that count for Rio.

In what was a very technical Zurich round, there were just nine first-round clears. Ireland’s other contender, Bertram Allen went out on eight faults with Molly Molone to finish outside the points in 23rd place.

With the double combination causing trouble, clear rounds were once again hard to come by in the nine-horse jump-off. Five of the finalists had gone before Australia’s Edwina Tops Alexander came up with the first double-clear in a careful 45.31.

When league leader Christian Ahlmann had one down, the door opened for second-last-to-go Denis Lynch on the very much in-form 13-year-old All Star (by Argentinus out of an Alme dam).

With home hero Pius Schwizer to come after him on Future, Lynch was once again at his canny best as he bid to put up a good clear time while giving full credit to the difficulty of the course.

Just as in Leipzig two weeks previously, this he did with superb accuracy. He took Edwina’s safe line to the first, powered over the next four and took a careful run at the double to snatch a convincing three-second lead in 42.34. However, last in Schwizer was up to the challenge and crossed the line just a half second faster for the win.

With the 17 points gained for second place, Denis moved up to joint 13th place on the Western European League table, well within the cut-off point of 18. With just this weekend’s Bordeaux round to go, that should be good enough to get him into the World Cup final in Sweden in March. However, matters are very close on the lower rungs of the league so it will all be down to the French round. Both Lynch and Bertram Allen are signed up for that.

In Friday’s important Olympic qualifying Grand Prix, Lynch and All Star were just pipped by Gregory Wathelet of Belgium, who is also bidding for a slot at the Rio Olympic Games.